Backandsides Riding Centre, County Durham

I really did not like Backandsides Riding Centre and I would not recommend it to my friends. I didn't stay there for a great length of time because of the atmosphere that I really did not like. It seemed there were only about 4 riding horses, and only 2 of those I was allowed or able to ride! Also I like riding in outdoor arenas but I was always put in the smaller, dark indoor arena. I was assigned to a horse that hated jumping for a jumping lesson, and when I failed to be able to get her to jump the fence, my instructor got me to get off and got another girl who worked there to force the horse over it - what did that accomplish for me?! My instructor also came up and frightened the horse I was riding purposefully by poking it in the middle of the face while I was riding him to demonstrate a point - I did not like that at all. He was also in my opinion an unpleasant, intimidating man that embarrassed and mocked me in front of a crowd at pony camp and I simply disliked him as an instructor. However, I must say that the pony day was very informative and the lessons in general had a lot of horse information in them. This is just my opinion.